It’s everyone’s favorite way to spend some free time – “pinning” great recipes, ideas, and desired products. What is this new and innovative online space? It’s Pinterest. Pinterest is the latest marketing tool and social networking platform. It utilizes pictures to share ideas and products, and can be quite influential in the world of marketing.

We know Pinterest is fun for personal use, but is it right for your business? As great as Pinterest may be, it’s not always practical for specific businesses.  It caters to a predominantly female audience, as well as to organizations that can promote value through photos.

Even though it’s not for everyone, Pinterest does have business advantages.  What can Pinterest do for you as a business?

Traffic: As its popularity grows, more and more people are becoming “addicted” to Pinterest; it’s a site where you can spend hours browsing. It’s also a top social network, so there’s always a lot of traffic on the site, which equals more exposure for your business.

Illuminates Trends: Pinterest is a great place to find out what your customers like, which is visible by what they’re “pinning” to their boards.  What’s shareable?  What do customers like to see?  This is invaluable information for you!

Sales: When someone “pins” a photo directly from a website, the link is included for everyone to see and click.  This brings more traffic to your site and offers free exposure to your products and services.

Pinterest continues to be a growing network that does a great job of sharing what’s relevant and what speaks to people.  Depending on your business, you may be able to gain sales revenue from this form of marketing, as well as understand your audience even better – a big necessity for every business!